A/N:Kurt comes home to a rare empty loft, and reflects on how amazing his life has been since he not only got a boyfriend, but a canine companion.
Written for the kurtoberfest prompt "Freebie Day" in which I chose "shapeshifter".
"Sebastian! Sebastian, I'm home," Kurt announces as he walks through the sliding door to his loft. Kurt never did like coming home to an empty place, which is why living with a man who mostly works from home has been such a blessing.
"Sebastian? Sebastian…are you there? Here, Sebastian!" Kurt follows up with a few quick slaps on his thigh and a whistle just in case it's Sebastian's Rhodesian that's planning on greeting him and not the human man himself.
But there's no response to Kurt's calls. He stands inside the doorway and waits, listening for any sound, but there's nothing – not a sniffle, not a breath. Kurt sighs. Sebastian doesn't work away from the loft often, but when he does, Kurt hates it. The loft feels so much bigger when Sebastian isn't there, dimmer and lonely. Even when Sebastian putters around in his dog form, lies on the couch to watch TV, or follows behind Kurt, the click-click-click of his nails on the wood floor trailing wherever Kurt goes is a tremendous comfort.
After Kurt and Blaine broke up and Blaine moved out, the loft felt empty. Without Blaine's voice, the sounds of him doing whatever in another room, or his just plain presence, Kurt began to understand what people meant when they said the neighborhood he lived in wasn't "the best". He thought he knew that, but he never realized the courage he gained facing it knowing there was someone waiting for him to return home, someone who had his back. It was a safety net he didn't know he'd miss so much until it was gone, and he kind of hated that that net had been Blaine. There were times when he was on the fence about inviting Blaine over for the night simply to have another body there, when he regretted not asking him to stay on just as a roommate.
Finding Sebastian had been more than a blessing; it had been an answer to prayers he didn't want to admit saying. When he saw the red dog rummaging through the trash in the alley behind his loft and brought him in from the cold, Kurt never imagined that he had stumbled across anything more than a mutt that he'd have to take to the pound. But after a bath, some dinner, and a night curled up together on the sofa, he knew he had made (as the campy Pedigree food commercials often say) a friend for life.
Three weeks later, when he discovered that the dog was actually a man…well, there was a lot of screaming and cursing, especially considering the amount of times Kurt had changed in front of him as he got ready for work, the times the dog had hung out in the bathroom while Kurt took a shower, and the three…or maybe five…or maybe a dozen times Kurt had masturbated on his bed without noticing until afterwards that the dog was lying on the floor in the bedroom or lingering outside the door.
But, remarkably, believing Sebastian's story wasn't as difficult as Kurt thought it would be.
And falling in love with the man wasn't any harder than falling in love with the animal inside. In fact, since Kurt had already become enamored by the gorgeous Rhodesian with the soulful green eyes, falling in love with Sebastian was the easiest thing he'd ever done.
Considering how many times Kurt had walked Sebastian as a dog and cleaned up after him, that was saying a lot.
After Sebastian revealed his secret, he didn't turn into his dog form too often. He didn't know how comfortable Kurt would be seeing the dog ambling around, knowing it was Sebastian. But Kurt began to miss it. He loves Sebastian in any form, and Sebastian happens to be comfortable as a dog. Kurt has always been a cat person, but he warmed up to Sebastian's Rhodesian because, at heart, the beautiful dog stalking his loft was very much Sebastian.
Besides, inside the body of the dog exists the naked body of the man, who can change form at any time. That, in itself, is exciting.
Kurt strips off his clothes and climbs into bed. The sheets are cold, which Kurt used to enjoy, but now it emphasizes the fact that Sebastian isn't there. Kurt would stay up and wait, but it's already after ten o'clock, and Kurt has an early morning. He doesn't want to go to bed alone, but he's going to have to. He sends Sebastian a quick text message, puts his head on the pillow, and before a response text comes in, he falls asleep.
At some point between completely comatose and hanging on to slightly awake, Kurt feels the bed tremble, hears the covers shift. A second later, he becomes warmer, a heat pressed against his bare skin him beneath his blanket that fills him with a unique sense of being protected…and loved. He reaches hands for it, wrapping his arms around the soft, muscular body snuggling up to him.
Kurt smiles. Sleeping beside Blaine never felt this good.
"Goodnight, Sebastian," Kurt mutters, sighing as the promise of a more comfortable, restful sleep takes him under, sealed with a dry lick up his neck and the press of a cold, wet nose underneath his chin.